My Week and a Dr Seuss Quote

Monday 8th October to Sunday 4th October 2012

Funny thing is, I decided to take it easy this week...

Monday I met up with the Executive Committee to talk about the upcoming elections. All very exciting stuff, you can see who's running and for what position on the SU website here: http://www.su.rhul.ac.uk/news/article/6001/ElectionsCandidates/ . Do take the time to read their manifestos and vote - it's very important that you choose who you want to represent you.

Tuesday I met up with the Representation person in the SU, to talk about the development of the I&R Senate ,what it means and it's limitations. This information will be used to create a strategy for the following years, and to keep us on track! It was hard to be honest about the difficulties the I&R Senate faces; not because being honest is difficult, but facing the realities of the hurdles we face to get people to care, and to get people involved. I truly believe that ensuring equality, liberation and representation for all students is the most important thing that a union can do, and I'm working on making that a well known and core concept.

Photo from my campaign to get elected last year.

Wednesday I had my first radio show - EVER! It was really nerve-wrecking, but I had planned it well and I thoroughly enjoyed it! My guest was also brilliant, and we talked about her favourite songs, some facts about her and even some of her fears! Tune in every Wednesday from 11am to 12pm! If you would like to appear on the show, you just need to be free at 11am for an hour, and to think of six songs and six facts about yourself. I have an application form to make it easier, so just email me! Find out more about Insanity Radio in general here: http://www.insanityradio.com/

Thursday I was supposed to be in three places at once. I really wish I had some kind of magic stop watch - there was a really cool talk on gender and the Victorian era held by Philosophy Society and Feminism Society, where I gave an introductory talk on gender today. I also wanted to be at the ACS TeachFirst event in Rialto that day, but missed it by 10minutes! If that stop watch gets invented, let me know! Next was a forum to organise for the upcoming Demos - both the TUC and the later NUS ones. We had some great ideas going! Do get involved and stand up for what you believe in, not just for yourself but for your family and friends, whom these things also affect. Find out more and join the Anti-Cuts Alliance here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/156106277742122/?fref=ts

“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot,

Nothing is going to get better. It's not.” ― Dr. Seuss, The Lorax

Friday I met up with our Gender Representative Jess to talk over briefly some plans, and I did the same with the LGBT+ Representative Moose. We just came up with some ideas for campaigns to take to the next I&R senate - which is THIS THURSDAY AT 6PM, RIALTO! Very excited, looking forward to meeting you all and getting some great plans rolling! https://www.facebook.com/events/170975346372411/?fref=ts

Then there was an Entertainments Committee meeting - it was pretty interesting, we talked about how to improve SU and Medicine nights and what the students really want. We have a very active Entertainments Officer - Dan, so please do get involved if you want to have a say in the SU events. You can find out more here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/129261057203196/?fref=ts , or by emailing Dan himself.

Today, Sunday, there is a Feminist Student Coordinating Meeting in the Feminist Library, London. I really recommend going if you can, because they're super friendly and very active. Find out more info here: https://www.facebook.com/events/457022570987757/ . It starts at 3pm! Unfortunately I can't make it today, but be sure to have a good time! There is also a five-a-side football tournament to celebrate Black History Month - it begins at 2pm, and looks to be great fun! Get involved or pop down to cheer them on. Again, more information here: https://www.facebook.com/events/376366392440855/?fref=ts . 

That's all from me so far - today I'm going to have to focus on my course and prepare the Insanity show for this Wednesday! I'm also excited for tomorrow, where I will be attending the ULU Liberation Network meeting. Again, more information here https://www.facebook.com/events/276468595805305/.

Over and out!

Catch you later!

Weekly Update: Courses, Meetings and Training

Monday 1st October to Sunday 7th October 2012

What a week!

Zero Tolerance
I met up with a member of SU Management to talk about implementing the Zero Tolerance policy in the Union. The security codes of conduct already match up with the Zero Tolerance approach, so now it's just about getting accredited by the Women's NUS as a Zero Tolerance Union. We've also emailed around a leaflet I made explaining ZT to the SU staff, and I'm about to start printing off hard copies to hand out to staff, students, and student staff. VPComCam has set up a working group to work on the ZT Campaign - if you would like to get involved and come to the meeting, please just send me an email!

ACA + Exec

Claire loves Zero Tolerance

I went to the Anti-Cuts Alliance meeting on Monday - it's very important to stand up against the government cuts, as they seem to be attacking women, people with disabilities and the poor. I'll write a blog post later to explain why I think this, filled with statistics to win you round. I promise, you won't have to wait too long for it. If you would like to get involved or find out more in the meantime, get in touch.

Exec in the evening was fine, got it done in an hour (would you believe it!?) and starred some motions for the next GM.

Disability 
I also met up with some lovely people to talk about making our Union more accessible to students with disabilities. It seems that many students do not self-define as disabled, even though under the eyes of the law they are titled as such. It is very important that we make our Union as accessible as possible; so far, the position as Disabled Students Rep is still vacant on the I&R Senate, though ideas are in the pipeline for a name change. If you would like to get involved or have any ideas, contact me!

General Meeting
Then - the GM! Jess Goldsmith was elected as Gender Rep for the I&R Senate (and rightly so, I just know she'll do a great job!). Thank you to those who stayed until the end - it was a long session (but not as long as last year's, believe it or not!). Congratulations to all of you who got new positions, this will be a very exciting year!

NUS Black History Month Poster

Insanity Radio Training
I've also had some very exciting Insanity Radio training - yes! You guessed it! I have my own radio show! It's where I will be interviewing people from the community such as yourself - staff, students and locals, about their lives and favourite songs. If you would like to be on the show, please email me and I'll send you an application form I have designed. The form takes 10minutes, the show is an hour long, and the first one is on Wednesday at 11am! (Really quite nervous!).

Black History Month & BME Rep
I also met up with the President of ACS, to talk about Black History Month and increasing BME representation in the union - the BME Rep is still vacant on the I&R Senate, and we have lots of great ideas so if you're interested, get in touch! Check out the Black History Month posters around campus, and also the YOLO event held by ACS on the 10th October - looks to be a great night! They've also got a great line up of events for the month, ending with a live music session on the 1st November. Check out what they get up to and show your support!


Feminism Society & a talk on "Change"
Finally, I went to Fem Soc on Thursday, and it was great to see so many new faces! It looks like we have several great ideas for campaigns this year. Get in touch with Feminism Society if you're even mildly interested - they're a great laugh (contrary to the stereotype) and very friendly. They's also got a fantastic blog and society magazine, which you get for free when you sign up!

Me & my diary!

That evening I went to the talk called "Change!? How do we fight austerity?", which was pretty interesting. I had to stand at the back by the end though - I'd run out of soothers and my cough was getting worse! So that distracted me, and I can't tell you what the conclusion was.

Other News
In other news my course has also started and I have two essays to hand in before mid-Novemeber (argh!), and I also work part-time on campus on the weekend. I'm not complaining, I love being busy, but here's a photo of me with my colour-coded diary (yes, it's a grasshopper in the bottom corner!).

Oh, and I went to the Steam Fair on the Englefield Green. IT WAS EPIC!

Bye!

Zero Tolerance Statement from Welcome Week

This is the official statement made by the SU, in response to Welcome Week. This is in particular for anyone who felt uncomfortable during SU nights. We are working together to make the Zero Tolerance approach to sexual harassment more prominent, and a working group is being set up as you read this. If you would like to get involved in the working group, then please email me on eandl@su.rhul.ac.uk.

"This Monday SURHUL held our first Club Night of the year in the Student’s Union building, it has come to our attention that a number of events occurred on that night that made students feel uncomfortable in our venue, and we can only apologise for that, the events were unforeseen and we have already taken steps to ensure that such events will not occur again.
The Students’ Union of Royal Holloway venues have a zero tolerance approach to sexual harassment. Sexual harassment is any behaviour that makes you feel uncomfortable, this includes, but is not limited to: unwanted sexual comments, inappropriate touching or groping, or someone exposing their sexual organs to you without your consent.
This term the Students’ Union will be further publicising this campaign whilst taking steps to enforce it in our venues, taking a clear stance that sexual harassment is no more acceptable than racism, homophobia, transphobia, sexism or ableism. At no point will we accept such behaviour towards other members of the Students’ Union or to our Staff.

If at any point you feel uncomfortable or threatened in one of the Students’ Union venues, we urge you to approach a member of staff to help resolve the issue, do not go on in silence."

Welcome Week (Sat 22nd - Sun 30th)

What has your E&L Officer been up to this week?
And the disappointing cookie tale.

Some of our volunteers! From left to right: Hannah, Mike,
Young, Nicky and Megan!

Saturday and Sunday a superb team of volunteers and myself helped new students move in to Runnymede 1. Saturday was great fun because of the good weather and a constant flow of new arrivals, where as Sunday was just a bit wet! Many thanks to all of the volunteers who helped out with all the heavy-lifting on this weekend, and I hope you have all recovered! And as for you new students, I hope you are settling in well.


Apart from that, I have been part of the "Squirtle Squad", where we hand out water to you all on SU nights. I shook my head and tutted with the rest of you with Coolio's behaviour on Wednesday night - I hope the Sound People know to ignore his rude remarks, and that also that you all enjoyed yourselves despite his inappropriate behaviour. I also hope it was worth the wait for the "Gangster's Paradise" song, which he played right at the end.

Martha Gillespie, our Ethics & Environment
Officer, with one such bottle of water.

I'd just like to remind you all that our SU has a Zero Tolerance policy to sexual harassment - any groping, touching or inappropriate behaviour that makes you feel uncomfortable is not welcome, nor tolerated. We have strict procedures here in our SU, and I am currently working on publicising this campaign amongst staff and students alike. If you would like to know more, then join the Inclusion & Representation page on facebook, or keep following this blog, or contact the Feminism Society. I will add more information on this policy soon.

I helped out briefly at the SU stall at the Societies fair, great to see so many of you getting involved in what the SU and the Societies and Sports at RHUL have to offer. Hope to see many of you at our GM on Tuesday the 2nd October, and hopefully running for the roles in the I&R Senate. Liberation is exciting this year, be a part of it!

I've also written an article on the "Let's Talk About Porn" event for the student newspaper, and written a motion for this coming GM - the campus nursery is more expensive than most, and the UCU is campaigning for it to be more reasonably priced for students and staff alike. The motion is for our SU to support this campaign, and to follow it. With all the advertising I do now, you wouldn't believe that in my first year I had never written an article!
I've also arranged several meetings for this coming week to discuss how to make our Union more accessible to students with disabilities, and how to encourage Zero Tolerance behaviour in our SU staff and students.

Myself, and the Zero Tolerance posters in the SU.

I've even fallen a little ill, so I've been sleeping as much as possible! And currently baking vegan cookies (I'm not vegan, but a housemate is!).

Anyway, see you at the GM!

N.B. The cookies didn't work. I am so ashamed. If you see me this week, please do not mention it. They crumble between my fingers. *Sob*

Article in The Wilding

So it's true! My article is in The Wilding, a fantastic publication by Royal Holloway's own Feminism Society. In this issue (and mind you, the first of its kind!) you can find information about the suffragettes at Holloway, a perspective on Fifty Shades of Grey and much much more.
It is truly a gem!

Find my article on page 22 on the following link: http://rhul-fem-soc.blogspot.co.uk/p/the-wilding.html

If you are around Holloway, you can get your own physical copy for free when you join the society.
Well worth it, if you ask me.

Let's Talk About Porn...

THIS is something I have been working on, my friends. We need to question the things we see everyday (page three and on websites) sometimes - and this is one of those times.

We have four very talented speakers coming with very interesting backgrounds. 

All are welcome! 

To be held at Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, Surrey.

Welcome & Basics of Liberation at SURHUL.

Welcome to the Equalitea blog post! It's great to see you here!

This is the official blog for my position, where I'll be keeping you up to date with the ins and outs of my position. There's plenty to talk about - so where to begin!?

Let's start by explaining my role, and how it's going to change.

I chair and work with the Inclusion & Representation Senate, which has representatives (as elected by you) from a variety of liberation branches, a few officers, students, and finally our wonderful Sabbatical Officers. The main roles are like so;

• BME Rep (Black & Minority Ethnic)
• LGBT+ Rep (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans, and anyone else who doesn't identify as hetero-normative)
• Disability Rep (can be both visible and invisible)
• Women & Marginalised Gender Rep 
• Various Hall Reps (for on campus or off campus)
• Postgraduate Officer
• International Students Officer

Together we decide on campaigns to run, on issues that need to be promoted and also how to make both our university and union more accessible. All students are welcome to these senate meetings to help decide how to make this all possible. It's also where we hold each other to account, catch up on the progress each one has been making and support intersectionality between reps.
You can run for any of the above representative roles (apart from LGBT+ Rep, which is already taken!) at the GM on Tuesday 2nd October. The Officer positions are elected in cross-campus elections later in the year.

Later this year, however, it will be changing.

The first four representatives mentioned will become Officers in their own right, and my role will make way for this. This allows our union to focus on liberation and rightly attributes more value to liberation. 

This is why I will also be helping the development of activists from these groups - to create a strong liberation station for the movement to progress from.

Soon, I will write more about each position and what I have been up to.

Until then keep an eye out for The Wilding (AWESOME FemSoc publication!) where I have written an article about Liberation at our Union! I will also let you know how Welcome Week went, and prepare you for the first GM of the year on the 2nd October!

Over and out!